Follow my journey from being overweight and addicted to ice cream, to running marathon's!

Monday, October 12, 2015

My 18 mile run

Saturday's training schedule called for 18 miles. Eeeek. Actually, I was really looking forward to it. I love my long runs!

I woke up early, got everything ready and headed out the door.

Huma gels, peanut butter and honey sandwich and Pocket Protein, which I got in my Bulu box and tried for the first time.

It was a very cool morning, which felt amazing. I've been waiting for Fall days like this to run in.

I was feeling great miles 12, 13, 14...feeling very confident, like I got this! When suddenly it all changed. I mean, one minute I was feeling awesome, the next I wanted to die. (Maybe that is 'the wall'?)

I felt like I had shin splints, which I haven't had in years, then I started feeling like no way in heck can I do another marathon. I just can't do it. I can do half's and LOVE them, but anything more than that is pure torture. Why would I even want to do this to myself?

I decided to sit down for a couple minutes to recoup. I reached out to my IG friends for some much needed encouragement. That helped more than I can say! At that point I had 2 miles to go.
At mile 14, I purposely made sure I ran a 4 mile out and back, so that I couldn't quit early. My car was 2 miles away, so I had no choice but to finish.

So I got up and finished my run. And I didn't die.

I really have no idea what went wrong. I fueled as I always do, with a gel every 5 miles.
I
think for next week's 20 I will bring some sour patch kids candy with
me. I've used them for a couple marathons before, and that sugar really
seems to help.

Saturday evening my legs felt great, hardly even sore. But then my back started hurting! The rest of the day and then all day Sunday I had horrible back pain. It hurts to sit, stand, turn any direction. It's strange! I have never had back pain before, so this is really unusual.

I WILL do this, you guys. I will, I will. I can't expect it to be easy.
It's freakin 26.2 miles, after all. It's supposed to be hard. The hard
is what makes it great. Pushing through the hard times and not giving up
makes me stronger, mentally and physically.

Ironman Louisville was happening here Sunday, so I spent a few hours watching the finish line live stream. That always puts things in perspective for me. If these people can do a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and then run a marathon, there is no reason I can't run a marathon!

Anyone else have back pain after a run?How do you push past 'the wall'?

18 comments

Oh girl - I LIVE with back pain after a run - in my lower back. The pounding on the ground always jolts it up in pain. I love my incline table so I can hang & try to let it release all that tension & stretch back out.... is your back pain high or low?

You did it though! You're doing so good!!! I cant imagine doing 18 miles.

Yep... having my hands on these athletes at the finish line & seeing some of them still running & full of energy after that day, its so inspiring. Even seeing the ones that have to be willed out in chairs finish - it all is such an amazing feat & crossing the finish line regardless blows me away.

Awesome job on your 18!!!I had someone hand me sour patch kids around mile 18 in a marathon once, and I remembered I really liked the taste. I don't think I ate them, just sucked on them for a bit before spitting them out, but ya sometimes that little sugar pick me up can help!Sorry about your back pain. I have been having my own back pain lately too, so I feel ya! I have absolutely no idea what is causing mine or where it came from, but literally if I am sitting in a chair and go to stand I cannot stand straight for almost 30 seconds, I look like a leaning old lady, LOL I'm going to re-look at what I am doing and see if I can fix the problem.Occasionally, I have had a little back pain in longer runs, along the lower back region, I find if I stretch it out even if I do it while running and just lean forward a few times it seems to fix it. Hope you don't have it happen again!

I think you did an awesome job on your 18 miles!!! I can't imagine running that far. I often wonder if I will ever do a full marathon....I want to, I really do, but my own thoughts are too negative for me to push through that right now. You pushed through yours, which is so inspiring! I'm hoping that next fall I will be there. I'm sure you will do great on your 20 miles, if you did 18, you can definitely do 20!!! Good luck!!!

Awesome job on your 18 miles! I am so in awe of people training for marathons. For me, time wise, the half marathon distance is all I've got. But, I still think about the marathon.Sorry about your back pain. Here's hoping it was temporary and gone!

Well done!!! I've just won a ballot place in the London Marathon in April so will be training hard over the winter, the furthest I've ever ran is about 5 miles!! I'll be looking back at your posts for inspiration when I'm struggling!